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BIOTEC-NAST collaboration on the establishment of culture collection center in Nepal

BIOTEC-NAST collaboration on the establishment of culture collection center in Nepal

The advance in biotechnological and bioscience research enables the discovery of microbial utilization, especially in essential industries such as pharmaceuticals, energy and agriculture. Therefore, increasingly, culture collection becomes an important infrastructure for bio-economy.

Nepal Academy of Science and Technology (NAST) is keen to establish a culture collection center as a part of National Biotechnology Center. NAST recognized the expertise of BIOTEC in the management of microbial collection and thus contacted BIOTEC to seek collaboration on this topic. BIOTEC invited NAST scientist team, led by Dr. Buddhi Ratna Khadge, NAST Secretary, to visit Thailand on 24-26 August 2015 in order to learn first-hand of BIOTEC’s experience in establishing and managing its culture collection. The study visit focused on the management of microbial culture collection which includes activities such as the preservation, identification, quality control, data management, as well as legal management. NAST also had an opportunity to visit Thailand Institute of Scientific and Technological Research (TISTR) and KEEEN, a company specializing in bioremediation technology, to widen the perspective on microbial collection and utilization.

BIOTEC founded BIOTEC Culture Collection (BCC) in 1996 as a depositary and distribution center for microorganism, providing services with international standards. BCC currently has in its collection more than 70,000 microbial strains. In February 2014, Thailand Bioresource Research Center (TBRC) was established to serve as a central body to manage Thailand’s national biological resources, through networking with various academic and research institutes, making these biological materials accessible for further research and development to realize their potential use. TBRC currently has over 130 members from Thailand and overseas.